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HONG KONG (Reuters) - ZTE Corp, the world's No. 5 telecom equipment and smartphone maker, expects to post a third quarterly net profit for the July-September period.
The result was thanks to cost-cutting measures and as the company shunned the low-margin contracts that led to it posting losses last year.
ZTE, which was plagued last year by unprofitable telecom projects in markets like Africa and thinning margins in the highly competitive smartphone sector, is banking on cost cuts - such as a self-imposed 50 percent pay cut by senior executives - and Chinese mobile carriers laying 4G networks for its turnaround this year, analysts said.
Since late last year, the Shenzhen-based company has also sold stakes in several non-core units to help it turn profitable.
On Wednesday, ZTE, which competes with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd in the telecom gear and smartphone sectors, flagged a net profit of 500-750 million yuan ($81-$121 million) for the first nine months ending September, in a statement on the Hong Kong stock exchange - a move back into the black from a net loss of some 1.7 billion yuan in the same period last year.
That meant that its third-quarter net profit would likely amount to 190-440 million yuan, versus a 130 million yuan net loss a year earlier, according to Reuters' calculations based on company data.
"The increase is primarily due to the reasons that the group has strengthened its management over contract profitability by strictly controlling the signing of low gross margin contracts," ZTE said.
ZTE added that costs for the first nine months were expected to fall significantly due to cuts in administrative, and research and development expenses.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, ZTE said its first half net profit came in at 310.0 million yuan, higher than a preliminary 302.3 million yuan the company flagged in July.
Its second quarter net profit therefore amounted to 105.0 million yuan, up 11.7 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Reuters' calculation.
(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in SINGAPORE and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG; editing by Ron Askew)


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Market Research Reports in Automotive & Transportation Industry
The ever increasing competitive business environment in the transportation industry makes it necessary for all the companies across the value chain to be well informed about the market and competitive dynamics. Stratview Research's market reports in the transportation industry provide in-depth analysis and insights which are of high value to all the companies across the industry value chain.
Please see below the list of reports we offer related to the transportation industry. Please click on the respective report for more details:
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After reading aloud a text on life in extreme environments, students will discuss what life is and the requirements of life. Groups of students will conduct an experiment of their choosing on chia seeds to explore how extreme environments affect the... (View More) growth of the plant. After conducting their experiments, they will write and illustrate a fictional story about an imaginary life form on Mars. This lesson is from "Red Planet: Read, Write, Explore!" which uses literacy, art, and creative expression as a vehicle for learning about Mars science and exploration. Includes alignment to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This collection of activities presents learners with intriguing questions about the universe and provides an opportunity to explore topics related to the search for life beyond our own planet. The collection includes eight existing classroom... (View More) activities that have been adapted for after school school settings. Each activity can be completed in one hour, however some activities require advance preparation. The activities also require materials that may need to be gathered by the instructor. However, these include commonly available supplies. The activities in this collection are targeted for 5-12 year olds. Separate instructions for the different age groups are provided as appropriate. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students
How do Atmospheres Affect Planetary Temperatures: Activity A How do Atmospheres Interact with Solar Energy?
In this 2-part inquiry-based lesson, students conduct a literature search to determine the characteristics of the atmospheres of different planets (Venus, Mercury, Mars and Earth). After collecting and analyzing data, student teams design and... (View More) conduct a controlled physical experiment using a lab apparatus to learn about the interaction of becomes CO², air, and temperature. The resource includes student worksheets, a design proposal, and student questions. Connections to contemporary climate change are addressed. This lesson is the first of four in Topic 4, "How do Atmospheres Affect Planetary Temperatures?" within the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? (View Less)
This is a lesson about radiation and the various sources of radiation that a spacecraft may encounter in its journey. Learners will calculate their annual exposure to high-energy radiation, identify sources of high-energy radiation, and explain why... (View More) the near-Mercury environment is a concern for the Mercury MESSENGER mission. This is lesson 2 of 4 in the high school track of a module, titled Staying Cool. Note: the student guide starts on p. 17 of the PDF. (View Less)
Materials Cost: 1 cent - $1 per group of students
This is a lesson about infrared radiation. Learners will investigate invisible forms of light as they conduct William Herschel's experiment and subsequent discovery of infrared radiation. They will construct a device to measure the presence of... (View More) infrared radiation in sunlight, explain that visible light is only part of the electromagnetic spectrum of radiation emitted by the Sun, follow the path taken by Herschel through scientific discovery, explain why we would want to use infrared radiation to study Mercury and other planets, and explain how excess infrared radiation is a concern for the MESSENGER mission. This is activity 1 of 4 at the Grade 5-8 band of "Staying Cool." (View Less)
Materials Cost: $5 - $10 per group of students
Learners will consider the essential question, "How much energy does sunlight provide to the Earth and what is its role in the Earth's energy resources?" Activities include building a device to measure the solar constant - the amount of energy in... (View More) sunlight - calculating the amount of energy arriving at the Earth from the Sun, and describing the differences in solar radiation at Mercury compared to Earth. This is activity 1 of 4 in the module, Staying Cool. Note: the student guide starts on p. 21 of the PDF. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This is an activity about the effect of solar storm events on Earth's magnetic field. Learners will construct a soda bottle magnetometer, take it home, collect data over the course of three days, and analyze the results from several of these data... (View More) collection sessions to detect magnetic storm events. This is the eighth activity in the Exploring the Earth's Magnetic Field: An IMAGE Satellite Guide to the Magnetosphere educators guide. (View Less)
In this hands-on experiment, students will investigate the basic principle of photosynthesis and learn how light intensity diminishes as a function of distance from the light source. Questions help learners connect these two ideas to determine if... (View More) photosynthesis could occur at Saturn. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $10 - $20 per group of students
In this activity, learners will determine the factors affecting the appearance of impact craters and ejecta on the Moon. Extensions are listed. This activity is in Unit 2 of the Exploring the Moon teachers guide, which is designed for use... (View More) especially, but not exclusively, with the Lunar Sample Disk program. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
This is an activity about lunar and terrestrial stratigraphy. Learners will study the patterns of lava flow by creating eruptions using soda-vinegar solutions and modeling with home-made playdough (stove-top and no-cook recipes are included). This... (View More) activity is in Unit 2 of the Exploring the Moon teacher's guide and is designed for use especially, but not exclusively, with the Lunar Sample Disk program. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students


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Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Thanksgivukkah! Uh... Happy Black Friday!?
Even with that opening salvo of well-wishing I feel like I'm still missing people. Hey, Happy ruddy Friday everyone!
Sit back, relax, pop on your work headphones (you're not sat on the back of a bus after all), and take a look at these 16 brilliant new Vines from brands, all collected during November 2013. Plus there's a Thanksgiving bonus at the end.
Then if that's not enough, check out October's 10 best new examples of branded Vines when you're done.
BBC Children in Need
Here's a beautiful piece of animation created by illustrator Pinot to thank everyone for their fundraising efforts during this year's Children in Need.
This delivers three simple messages within six seconds of stop-motion: buy a poppy for Remembrance Day, wear it, then take it back to Sainsbury's to recycle it.
Using comic-book tropes to tell a dramatic story of a hero reborn, ESPN taps into many a fan-boy demographic.
Burt's Bees
Great attention to detail here, and an excellent use of sound, which is something often forgotten in most Vines.
Disney Parks
Disney has only recently entered the Vine world, but already its producing great content. Here's two of the best.
To promote its Vine only competition 'Vine your Disney side' here's a cracking piece of animation from yelldesign.
Vine can also be used for helpful advice. You gotta label your wires and cables, guys!
Here's Oreo's very clever take on the Portal computer game franchise.
Trident Gum
Prankvertising strikes on Vine! This wins purely for the box costume.
Samsung Mobile
The grandmasters of clever and creative Vining return with these two excellent examples.
This comes from Samsung's US Vine channel. Clearly there's a bit of budget behind Samsung's campaign, but they're still achievable and inspiring projects for the budget Vine-maker.
Never has something so inedible looked so delicious. I hope that plasticine is non-toxic.
Thanksgiving special
Here's four of the best Thanksgiving themed Vines created by brands in November:
Oreo is a double threat when it comes to social media, here's its cheeky prod at the belly of Taco Bell.
It also prompted this brilliant Twitter exchange between the brands.
.@TacoBell We weren't sure if you were open on Thanksgiving so we needed a backup plan. #DIY
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) November 26, 2013
A Morrissey baiting reference to the presidential pardoning of a single turkey prior to Thanksgiving. We'll assume that President Obama doesn't deliver all of his stays-of-execution via text message.
Farmers Insurance
A neat, heartwarming Thanksgiving message, encouraging you to drive safe and remember to eat some vegetables for goodness sake.
Finally, gorge yourself on this giant platter of sandwiches before the big game. If you can see it through the turkey sweats,
For a look at Vine's competition, here's 10 of the most shared brands on Instagram video and an article exploring the differences between the two competing platforms.


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Beaumont/Port Arthur
Orange County Sheriff's deputies got more than they bargained for when they stopped for a meal at a restaurant in the 12000 block of F.M. 1442 in Orange.
While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us "that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas," we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We're of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.
For this week's New York Times crossword puzzle, pick up a copy of this week's The Examiner on newsstands now.


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Blackfoot still grappling with broken sewer line
City crews are still grappling to repair a sewer line on Frontage Road in Blackfoot that collapsed Monday morning flooding the basement of seven homes on Riverton Road with sewage water. Workers originally thought the repair would only take 12-24 hours. Now, they are hoping that all will go well and that they can complete the repair by Thursday evening.
"There are 100 things that could've gone right while making this repair and nothing did," said an exasperated Fred Davies, Public Works Director for the City of Blackfoot.
The crews have drained a 13-foot man hole and have been able to expose the damaged pipe so that they can proceed with the repair.
Davies praised all of the city crews for their hard work and the long hours they have put into the job.
"The waste water department, the street department, the office staff...all the crews...everyone, has been great in their efforts to get this fixed," he stated.
Davies also thanked the public for their encouragement and willingness to help cut back on water usage throughout this crisis. He asks that those in the Blackfoot, Moreland and Groveland area continue to use good judgement on the water they are dumping into the sewage system until repairs to the line are finished.
"Everyone cutting back a little, really helps a lot," he said.
The city's insurance adjusters are still working with the homeowners whose homes were flooded. It will likely be another week before a damage estimate is determined.


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The Department of Theatre and Dance is committed to academic excellence, offering undergraduate courses of study which prepare students for transfer to four-year Baccalaureate or conservatory programs. A low student-to-faculty ratio provides for more personal attention in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to gain expertise in all of the fundamental areas of Theatre and Dance through an integrated program of study in a liberal arts context. Courses offered by the Department of Theatre and Dance may be used as Humanities or General Elective Credit. Specific courses satisfy NCC and/or SUNY General Education requirements. DAN 126 (Introduction to Modern Dance) serves as one credit of Physical Education activity. Students who wish to pursue the study of Acting, Dance or Technical Theatre at the baccalaureate level are encouraged to consult with departmental advisers.
View the Theatre Department's course descriptions and programs of study in the current College Catalog.
Production Program
The Theatre and Dance Department's extensive open-to-the-public Production Program includes a major musical, a children's musical, a joint production with the Africana Studies Department, a dance concert and a wide variety of dramas and comedies. Auditions are open to all students enrolled in a minimum of six credits at the College. The Production Program serves as a closely supervised laboratory for the Department's acting, dance and technical theatre courses and as an effective mechanism for taking education beyond the walls of the classroom.
Theatre & Dance Department
Location: Building W
Phone: 516.572.7508
Fax: 516.572.9752
Chairperson: Professor Victor Abravaya
Email: email@example.com


text: JP1 Remotes :: File Section JP1 Remotes FAQ Search 7 Days Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in File Section File Search Lookup Tool Wiki JP1 Remotes Forum Index -> File Section Category Last File Files JP1 File Section Help FilesHelp and "how to" docs, especially useful for beginners.Sub Category: None Fri Sep 22, 2017 1:52 pmNo download button? 31 Device UpgradesUpgrade files for use with either KM or RM.Sub Category: A/C, Audio, Audio/Video Selectors, Cable, Car Stereos, CD, Combo Audio Systems, Digital Cameras, Digital Picture Frames, Digital STBs, DVD (standard), DVD (Blu-Ray), DVD / VCR combo units, DVR/PVR, Fans, Home Automation, HTPC - Media Centers, Keyboards, Laser Disc, Media Players, Misc, MP3 Players, Projectors, Satellite, Satellite Radio, Tape, Toys, TV, TV Combos, VCR, UEI Official, WAV Files, Sat Aug 11, 2018 5:28 pmEdifier RC10E (R1280... 5235 Diagnosis AreaPlace files here for review by other JP1 members and experts. Sub Category: None Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:36 pmfor graham 3751 ProtocolsA variety of information relating to protocols and how to create and modify them using JP1 tools.Sub Category: Protocol Builder Files, Protocol Notes , Processor Data Sheets, Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:03 pm$0247 NEC Combo 166 ToolsFolder for JP1 tools and programsSub Category: Main, Drivers, Tools Archive, Programs, RDF Files, Special Protocols, RM Protocols, Mon Aug 20, 2018 5:45 amjp12serial v0.23 for... 171 ExtendersExtenders are programs that will allow you to completely re-configure your remote, but be sure to read whatever documentation comes with them as this is advanced stuff. Sub Category: URC-6131, URC-6440, URC-6960, URC-7560, URC-7562 B01, URC-7781, URC-7800, URC-8040, URC-8060, URC-8080, URC-8550, URC-8811, URC-8820 B00, URC-8820N, URC-8910, URC-9960 B00, URC-9960 B01, URC-9800, OARUSB04G, Atlas SA_7, Atlas 1025, Atlas 30xx, Atlas 1056 B03, 15-1994, 15-1995, 15-2104, 15-2116, 15-2133, 15-100, 15-133, Comcast URC-1067A , Comcast URC-1067B JP1.3 , RCA RCRP05B, RCA RCU810, ReplayTV 5000, Sony DirecTivo, Sony Tivo, Insignia 67100BA, Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:15 amJP1.3 Common extende... 126 Miscellaneous Everything else...Sub Category: FCC Info, Hardware, Interface Designs, Programs - Source, Schematics, Spreadsheets, Code Lists, OtherFormats, Codes xref lists, User Manuals, Icons and Logos, Nevo, Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:17 pmjp12serial023-Source... 269 SlingboxThe Slingbox sectionSub Category: Slingbox Work Files, Slingbox Binary Files, Archive, Slingbox RM files, Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:37 pmSlingplayer Desktop 2532 ReplayTVFiles and programs used to add IR blaster codes to ReplayTV units.Sub Category: Programs, ReplayTV RID Files, ReplayTV OBJ Files, Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:39 amiView 3200stb QAM tu... 63 Select a category All times are GMT - 5 Hours Powered by paFileDB 3.1 ©2002 PHP Arena This script (pafiledb integration v 0.0.9d + MX Addon 1.0) is modified by Mohd Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


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The Infinite and the Beyond — Podcast: Episode #015 — Ergo, the Ego
Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS
In the latest episode we discuss the Ego, ergo the name of this episode, and we explore some of the issues surrounding it with prominent occult author and musician Lon Milo DuQuette as well as talk about his new book titled Low Magick: It's All In Your Head … You Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is.
Not only is Lon Milo DuQuette the author of over a dozen books on western esotericisim, but he is also the United States Deputy Grand Master of the O:.T:.O:., an expert on the life of and work of Aleister Crowley, and a Brother Freemason as well. In my interview with Lon he shares some his personal insights and tales in regards to the ego and we even address the role that the ego plays in groups and fraternal organizations such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and even in Freemasonry.
Also in the show, we go on location in eastern Pennsylvania to get in touch with nature and paganism by studying some of the indigenous wildlife. We finally wrap up our journey through the Kybalion as we revisit what we've learned with a new perspective on life as we reflect upon the idea of the self. I announce a new show segment series for the podast. I read some of the listener email that has come to show since Episode 14 and our talk with Dr. Dean Radin. In A Corner in the Occult we learn about Doctor and Lawyer, Henri Cornelius Agrippa the famous German Renaissance author of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy. And we find out which lucky listener won a copy of Dr. Dean Radin's book Entangled Minds. All this and more in this latest installment of The Infinite and the Beyond!
To message the show please go here.
Chris Orapello
Latest posts by Chris Orapello (see all)
- Stolen Season with S.J. Tucker - Jul 3, 2015
- Flying with Sarah Anne Lawless - Jul 3, 2015
- Getting Down with Damh the Bard - Jul 2, 2015


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Infectious Disease Control UnitMail Code: 1960 PO BOX 149347 - Austin, TX 78714-93471100 West 49th Street, Suite T801Austin, TX 78714
Phone: (512) 776-7676
Fax: (512) 776-7616
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne illness. Up to 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus will have no symptoms. However, some infections can result in serious illness or death.People over 50 years of age and those with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill if they become infected with the virus.Your best defense is to practice these four habits:
To learn more about West Nile virus, see the following Fact Sheet.
West Nile Statistics: Annual Summaries Weekly Summary
Chikungunya, Dengue, West Nile, and Texas recorded webinar
Texas Homeland Security | Statewide Search | Texas.gov | Texas Veterans Portal | Privacy Practices | Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse


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First Corinthians chapter 10 is a very, very important chapter, and we'll find as we go through this entire chapter that what it has to say is very, very interesting. And we're going to attempt, this morning, to just begin to look at the chapter. In fact, I originally had wanted to go through verse 13 as a unit because I think that's a paragraph in the mind of the Apostle, but we really only got into verse 6 for this morning and so we'll just introduce this beginning section of chapter 10. For our visitors, we remind you, as we always do, that we're looking through a book and we're finding ourselves week by week progressing through the revelation of God. And here we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 as we study this wonderful letter. It deals with practical problems in the church.
One of the problems the church of Corinth was facing was the problem of how to determine what they should do in the areas of life and living that the Bible doesn't speak about. It says a lot of things are right in the Bible, it says a lot of things are wrong...you should do this, you shouldn't do that...but it doesn't say anything about a whole lot of other things. And how does a Christian know whether or not he has the right to do certain things that are not mentioned in the Bible? We call them gray area, between the black and the white of the bad and the good. And so, from chapter 8 through the first verse of chapter 11, that whole section, Paul is discussing the answer to that question. And you're going to be a little bit behind by coming in at this point and I trust that you'll be able to gain specifics out of this message without knowing all of the background that we've been discussing for the last several weeks.
In chapter 8, Paul set out a principle. And the principle is this, in the gray area, you're free. That is, as a Christian you have liberty. If it isn't wrong, you have the technical and the moral right to do it. But, there are two things basically that should determine whether you do or not. Number one, even though it is technically right, how will it effect others? That's his point in chapter 9. Number two, even though it's right, morally or technically, how will it effect you if you do it? So, there are two considerations when you're talking about something the Bible doesn't forbid. How will it effect others if you do it and how will it effect you if you do it?
In chapter 9, he dealt in great detail with how it would effect others. And he used an illustration of his own life. In chapter 10 he will deal in detail with how it will effect you and he uses an illustration from the life of the nation Israel to show how misuse of liberty will effect you and bring you into temptation and into sin and ultimately disqualify you from service for Christ.
Now this is a very important subject because it is such a broad subject, it has so much application in our lives. And we're going to take our time so that you'll understand it and you'll have to get part of it today and part of it next time to get a grip on the first 13 verses. I want to entitle the section "The danger of overconfidence...the danger of overconfidence." In the Corinthians' case, they were saying, "Hey, we're saved, we're baptized, we're instructed, we're mature, we come behind in no gifts. We've seen many things in our spiritual lives. We're free. We can go about and do all these things and they're not going to have any effect on us, we're too far along to get trapped. We're not concerned.
But the weaker Christians in the Corinthian church were saying, "But wait a minute. Some of the things you feel free to do and not be tempted, I can't do." Like maybe he's just been saved out of some idolatrous worship, and the more mature Corinthian goes to that particular thing and just eats the meal there with his friends and talks and has a little social time and ignores the idolatry going on around him. But the weaker Christian just saved, if he was to go would find himself so attached to that former way of life from which he has just emerged that it becomes a stumbling block to him, that it becomes a hindrance. And he looks at that other mature Christian and says, "How can you be a part of this? How can you have anything to do with this terrible idolatry?" And this other fellow is saying, "I ignore the idolatry, I just eat the food." But the weaker Christian can't separate the two. And so, Paul has said in chapter 9 you've got to consider that man. And what you might be able to handle, he--taking your example and attending--might not be able to handle.
And you might think that in our society today. You might see some form of entertainment of some kind of activity or indulgence that you can handle, but a weaker Christian just saved out of that seeing you doing it and then going ahead to do it thinking it's right would find himself terribly compromised and think less of you as a Christian and never understand how you could do it. That's his point. How's it going to effect others?
But now in chapter 10 his point is how is it going to effect you? You think you can handle it, but can you? Can you live on the thin edge of your liberty without falling?
Look at verse 27 of chapter 9 and let's get a running start. "I keep under my body and I bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." In other words, he says, you know, I could be a preacher and be active and be serving God and if I don't discipline myself and bring my body into subjection, I could become disqualified in the misuse of my liberty...I could run my liberty out to where I'm flirting on the thin edge of liberty and I could fall into temptation and sin and be disqualified from serving Christ. And you know, many people in Christian service who have been disqualified...many. In serving Jesus Christ and using their liberty and abusing their liberty, they render themselves useless and disqualified.
So, Paul in this passage is saying you can't run your liberty out to all of its extremities without noting the danger of falling into sin yourself. That smug Corinthian who goes to the festival and says, "I'm only going there for the food, after all, it's the only social contact I have, it's what everybody else is doing. I meet my friends there. I ignore whatever worship of a false god, or whatever orgy may be going on, I just ignore it," Paul says to that man, "O do you really? Are you able to flirt on the thin line there and really make it, or would you not be better off to avoid all appearance of evil and not have to face the temptation that comes?"
It all boils down to the problem of overconfidence. When a Christian gets to the place where he's so confident of his maturity and so confident of his strength that he thinks he can handle anything, he's really in a very precarious position. Notice verse 12, that's the sum of the first 13 verses. This is the germ of it. This is the heart of it. Verse 12, "Wherefore," that means based on the eleven verses just proceeding, on this basis, "let him that thinks he stand take heed...what?...lest he fall." It's just when you think everything is fine that you're in bad shape.
Now the Bible warns, and I want to back up a little bit from the text and I want to show you something of what the Bible says about overconfidence. As Christians, you can be mature. I can be mature and strong. But at the same time, I have to be careful what I do with my liberty because I too can be tempted and fall into sin and such sin as could disqualify me from service..and you as well. The Bible says a lot about this because God is very concerned about it. And over and over in the Bible, God humbles the proud, over and over again. In Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction and a proud spirit before a fall." In fact, in Proverbs 29:23 it says, "A man's pride shall bring him low." That's paradoxical but it's true.
Let me show you some illustrations of pride and how God dealt with it, some illustrations of overconfidence. Look at Esther chapter 6. Esther is a fascinating book. Esther was a Jewish lady who was very beautiful. She was living in a Persian kingdom. The Persian king got very upset at his wife because he was drunk one night, King Ahasuerus or Xerxes, he was drunk and he says, "Bring me my wife." And there was a party going on, he says, "I want everybody to see how beautiful she is." So...or something like that. So, so...they sent for his wife, Vashti was her name. And she says, "Nothing doing, I'm not coming in there, he just wants to put me on display." He probably wanted possibly even to disrobe her in front of everybody. And she was right in the sense that she didn't come. So she says, "No, I'm not coming."
So, the wise men in the land said, "We're in trouble because your wife will not come." And he says, "She is out as queen. She is deposed. If we don't do that then every woman in this kingdom won't come when her husband wants her...because everybody does what the queen does." And so they deposed her and he said, "Now I want to find me a queen." And he found one...Esther, she happened to be Jewish. Well, that became a problem because there was some anti-Semitic people in the country, namely one man named Haman who decided that he would plot to kill all the Jews. He even built a gallows at his house to use in hanging one particular Jew named Mordecai.
And so Haman had this whole plot all worked out and Esther did become the queen. And the king heard about the plot. And he was going to honor Mordecai the Jew. And in chapter 6, it tells us in verse 4, "And the king said, Who is in the court? And Haman was come to the outer court of the king's house to speak to the king to hang Mordecai." Here comes Haman, we're going to hang Mordecai. All the time the king's thinking about honoring Mordecai, see. Well, Haman wants to get rid of him.
"Then the king's servants said to him, Behold, Haman stands in the court. And the king said, Tell him to come in. And Haman came in. And the king said to him, What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" Haman, help me out, I've got a problem. I want to honor this man and I'd like to know, what do you think we should do to really just give this guy the red carpet. "Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? It must be me he has in mind." And, man, he really laid it on. "Get him the royal apparel," you know, the whole bit. See, he thought it was going to be him. "The noble princes and parade him through town on horseback and proclaim him..." Boy, just really laid it on. Got all done and said, "Wonderful, that's what I'll do with Mordecai."
Well, to make a long story short, what happened in the end when the king heard about the plot is recorded in chapter 7 verse 10. Haman was going to kill Mordecai and Esther and everybody else who was Jewish. So they hanged Haman on his own gallows. That's the danger of overconfidence.
Isaiah chapter 37 verse 10, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, is bragging about his accomplishments, how invincible he is. He says, "You tell Hezekiah, king of Judah, this," verse 10, "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee saying, Jerusalem shall not be given to the hand of the king of Assyria." Don't let your God fool you. "Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly and shalt thou be delivered?" You think when we're so powerful we've knocked everybody else off that you're going to get away? "Have the gods of the nation delivered them that my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arphad and the king of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah?"
Well, they're all wiped out. You think you can handle us? Sennacherib says, "You're in trouble." So Hezekiah had a prayer meeting, said, "Lord, I'm in trouble. You've got to help me." Verse 36, "Then the angel of the Lord went forth," this angel we studied in the last couple of weeks on Sunday night series, "and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 185 thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold these were dead." Sennacherib bragging, invincible, overconfident. Woke up in the morning and found 185,000 of his men dead. And later in verse 38, his own sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him. And his other son, Esar-haddon, reigned in his stead. Overconfidence.
In Daniel chapter 4, another illustration that's very graphic is an illustration of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar felt himself to be invincible. It says, verse 28, "All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar," here it comes, "at the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace in the kingdom of Babylon." He's walking in the palace. "The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of MY power and for the honor of My majesty?" Look what I've done, it's incredible how mighty I am.
"While the words were in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee." You're a little overconfident, that's the end. "And they shall drive thee from men." And they did, the Medes and the Persians. "And thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, they shall make thee eat grass like an oxen, seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth to whomsoever He will. And the same hour was the thing fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, did eat grass like oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird claws." Became a raving maniac, sleeping in the grass and eating it like an animal. Proud.
Obadiah, don't try to find it, just listen, I'll read it to you. Obadiah is a prophecy against Edom. Edom was a southern area east and south of the nation of Israel, across the Dead Sea and to the south extent. And the great city in Edom was the city of Petra. Petra was a city carved out of the cliffs in a canyon. And you can ride in there, been there a couple of times, on horseback. You can ride right into Petra. It's a fantastic experience. There's an area there where only one person can pass and so it's fortified incredibly, just a single man, for all intents and purposes, can block the entrance. And there is no other way in.
And so, Edom was very self-confident that they were invincible. In verse 3, "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock." They all live in the caves...they lived in the caves carved out of the rocks and they're so proud that they were invincible. "In their heart they said, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself like the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars, from there will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." And He did. That city of Petra was destroyed and today animals and birds occupy that place and that's all. Overconfidence.
In Matthew chapter 26, we have a New Testament illustration that gets very personal of overconfidence. Matthew 26:30, "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives." This is just after the Lord had communion with the disciples the night before His death. "And then said Jesus to them," Matthew 26:31, "All ye shall be offended because of Me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." You're all going to be offended by what's going to happen and you're going to scatter. That's Zechariah's prophecy. "But after I am raised up again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said to Him, Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended." I'm there, Lord...everybody else may go, I'm in...count on me. "Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, that this night before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times." Overconfidence.
There was a church in Asia Minor at the city of Laodicea, right near Colossae. This is what the Laodiceans felt. Revelation 3:17, "Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing..." overconfident..."and know not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."
You see, the Bible again and again and again and again and again hits that issue of overconfidence. When you think you stand, you are the closest to falling that you will ever be. It's like Aesop's fables, same thing, the tortoise and the hare. And you all know who won the race. Now this is the message of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 1 to 13. Let's look at it now and consider what it says.
The Corinthians--smug, proud, confident of their spiritual maturity--felt they could do whatever they wanted. They could eat meat offered to idols. They could attend idol feasts. They could go to the festivals and it wouldn't bother them at all. They didn't care about anybody else. They didn't care about offending others. And they felt they could handle it themselves. So Paul really hits the issue. In this whole section he says there's two things wrong with indulging your liberty to access. One, it offends others. Two, it's going to bring you to the brink of sin and wind up disqualifying you from service to Christ. There must be self-denial. There must be self-control and discipline, as he says in verse 27, keeping that body in subjection, discipline and denial, maybe of some things you have a right to do. Like an athlete who denies himself the things he has a right to because he trains to win a race. Paul says in verse 24, I'm in a race and I'm going to run to win the prize. And I know that if I'm going to do that, I have to be temperate, that means I have to be self-controlled. And I'm going to have to say no to some things that I have a right to in order to discipline myself to win the race.
And what's the prize? The prize is to win people to Christ. The prize is to mature saints. That's the prize that I'm after. And it takes self-discipline to reach that goal. And he's not talking about salvation, he's talking about service. The Christian who's going to be effective in service is the one who is self-disciplined who sets his liberties aside, if need be, so he doesn't offend a brother or another person who is even unsaved and so that he doesn't put himself on the brink of temptation.
People say, "Well, I'm free, man, I can handle anything. I'm so mature. You know, once and a while a shady immoral `R' movie, it doesn't bother me, I just pick out the philosophy of it. I just study the human interest factor. I can handle it."
"Oh, I know those office parties are wild but I go because I just...I have a 7-Up and sit in the corner and I can make it. I'm mature."
"I know it's kind of a mad celebration, but that's all right. Oh yeah, I can have a few drinks with the boys, it doesn't bother me, just a...I can handle it. Little exposure to that kind of thing kind of keeps you in touch. I'm mature. You've got to be where they are, you can't win them."
You know what Paul's saying here, he's saying, "Yeah, yeah, maybe those things fit...maybe. Maybe they fit into a category that you haven't thought about. Maybe what you are in your mind justifying as the right of your liberty is nothing but pandering your lust in thinking it's all right."
You see, that was Israel's problem. Let's look at the illustration beginning in chapter 10. He says here's a perfect illustration of a whole nation of people that all became castaways because they couldn't handle their liberty. And they took their liberty and put it right on the thin edge of sin and they fell into the pond, as it were. They couldn't stand on the precipice, they fell. And he has three movements that we'll look at, and just briefly: the assets of liberty, the abuse of liberty and then the application. And we won't get to all of it, but just the beginning.
He shows how Israel experienced God's blessing, experienced God's privilege and yet all perished and all died in the wilderness, useless to God. They were all disqualified, the whole pile of them, from service. It doesn't mean they all lost their salvation, that's not the issue. It's service that he's talking about. The race he's running here is the race to win people to Christ, the race to mature the saints, the race to live a disciplined Christian life. They all lost the race and God just chucked them all and started with a new group and took a whole new generation into the promised land.
Let's look beginning with then at the five verses that begin the chapter, the assets of liberty, we'll call it...the assets of liberty. And he begins with the things that the Israelites enjoyed because they are a parallel to the Christian. Now notice verse 1, "Moreover," that's just the Greek word gar, it's just a transitional word, it shows that this whole section is based on verse 27 on this idea of being disqualified. Your Bible may say castaway, it means disqualified. "But, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant." In other words, I don't want you to forget this. This is a strong statement here. I want you to know this, please do not forget this. Forget what? "That all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea."
Now you say, "What are you talking about?" Well, what was this occasion in the life of Israel when they all passed through the sea and under the cloud? Listen, it was the Exodus, wasn't it not? For over 400 years, Israel had been in bondage in Egypt. Now this is a fascinating section here, so hang in there and you'll see some really fascinating things. Israel was in bondage for over 400 years in Egypt. They were not their own people. They did not have their own national identity. They were mish- mashed into a society. The society dominated them. The society called all the shots. They had no identity. They were in abject kind of slavery and from that platform, there was little or no hope that they would ever be a witness to the world.
But finally God said it's time for you to be established as a witnessing community and I'm going to set you free. And God did that. God parted the Red Sea and they walked through on dry land. And God has His cloud and His cloud led them.
What verse 1 is talking about is the liberation of Israel. It was the cloud and the sea that symbolized Israel's freedom from bondage. That became the touchstone of the Jewish religion and it still is. When a Jew wants to go back to identify the fact that he is part of God's elect people, then he goes back to the Exodus. That's where God called Israel out and separated them from any other nation and gave them an identity independent of any other. So, don't be ignorant that all our fathers, and they are our fathers as Christians in the sense of faith. We are not the racial decent of Abraham, but Galatians 3:29 says we're his seed by faith. So they are in a sense our spiritual forefathers who living by faith and living as God's people are related to us who live by faith and as God's people, although we are not Jewish racially.
And so, he says all of them came out. All of them were set free. All of them were protected by divine provision in the cloud and in the sea rolling back so that they might pass. What a fantastic...God freed His people. Their election, now notice, people, this is important, their election out of Egypt was to be a national witness. And that is precisely what he is referring to here. Notice this...
This is not a picture of the salvation of Israel. It isn't the fact that when everybody left, they all got instantly saved. If you get saved by walking through the Red Sea, we better charter a flight. That is not how you get saved. You believe God. And some of those Israelites were saved while they were in Egypt. They believed God even there, right?
I believe Moses was truly a believer, a righteous man before He ever let them out. And there were many others. Some of them were regenerated by faith in the wilderness. Later on, some of them were regenerated by faith, as it were, in the promised land. So whether they were in Egypt or the wilderness or Canaan, they were believing personally for righteousness sake. It never was national. It wasn't, "All right, everybody out of Egypt and into the Kingdom." No, it wasn't a universal salvation, act, it was calling out a witnessing community. It was taking a people who were subjugated and from a vantage point where they couldn't set a pattern for the world to see of what godliness is. It was calling them out and setting them up as an independent, self- identified, connected-to-God community that the world could look at and say, "That's what the people of the Lord are like." And so, God is calling them out as a witnessing community.
And that perfectly fits Paul's point. God has called the church as a witnessing community. We have been taken out of bondage and set free in the world to be a communicating community, to share the truth, to be a witnessing nation. And the danger is that what happened to Israel would happen to some of us because what happened to some of them was this, they died in the wilderness, disqualified from being a part of that witnessing community because of sin. It doesn't mean they lost their salvation, they became useless and God had to get some more people to be the witnessing community that He wanted.
And so, they were called as a national witness, to receive, to preserve and to pass on the Word of God and prepare the way for Messiah's coming. So each Israelite, in addition to his personal faith, had that marvelous privilege of being a part of a nation that was God's witness nation. But when they all left, believe me, they all weren't believers. They never have been, In fact, in Romans 9:6, Paul said, "Not all Israel is really Israel." That is, not all racial Israel is true Israel by faith.
So the point of the passage then, listen, is not loss of salvation. That is not what it's saying. And some people who want to make leaving Egypt synonymous with salvation, got a whole bunch of people losing their salvation in the desert when they die...and other people want to say, no, Israel left the land and when they entered Canaan, that was salvation. Well, then a whole bunch of them never entered Canaan either, cause they died. Don't push that allegory totally on this. All we have here are people, some of whom believed and some of whom did not when they were in Egypt, some of whom believed in the desert, some of whom did not, but all of them became disqualified for service because whether they were...whether they were really saved Israelites or not, they were unfaithful in their service and they fell into sin.
So, here comes the whole group out and verse 1 is just talking about that liberation...I didn't mean to take so long. Have to hurry now. Verse 2, now this gets to be very touchy cause many people have been confused by this verse, and that's understandable. Let me give you what I think to be the understanding of it, and there are others who would disagree with me and that's fine, and I'll go ahead and defend my viewpoint and you can make your own judgment.
Verse 2, "And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Now that is strange, you have to admit that. That's a very strange statement. All were baptized. Now immediately when I say the word "baptized," without even asking I know exactly what you all think about..depending on whether you're Presbyterian or Baptist...I know exact...immediately the word "baptism" only means one thing, sprinkling or dunking people, or maybe pouring. And what we have done is what we do so often, we get stuck on the symbol. We have a hard time getting pass the symbol to the reality.
Well, let's look at it. Now there are some who say they were baptized is referring to their physical baptism, when they went through the sea they were baptized. And that's what the Baptists say, of course, they were dunked when they went through the sea. And the Presbyterians say, no, they actually went under the cloud and it rained on them, so they were sprinkled. And that which is a great verse for conciliating since both of them are there, the Baptist Israelites were dunked in the sea and the Presbyterian Israelites were sprinkled by the cloud, see.
Well, I hate to tell you this but neither is true. You say, "What do you mean? It says they were baptized in the cloud and the sea." You're right, but let me remind you of something. They couldn't have been baptized in that sea because it was parted and they walked through on what? Dry land. Somebody says, well actually the north part of the sea was very shallow and they actually...wasn't any miracle, they walked through on six-inches of water. And one little kid said, "I can understand that but how did Pharaoh's whole army drown in six inches of water?" So what you have here is the go through on dry land, so that doesn't work. And secondly, that is not a rain cloud, my friends, that is the Shekinah cloud. That's not full of water, it's full of God's presence. At night it turned into what? A pillar of fire and it would be tough to maintain itself as a rain cloud under those conditions. So that is not what it is talking about. It is not talking about sprinkling or baptizing physically.
You say, "What is it talking about?" All right, let's get behind the act of involving the water and get to the symbol. Baptism...and this is the--this is the understanding that Paul would have and the Corinthians...baptism signifies to the Christian mind identification. The real baptism that is most important in the life of a person is that he be baptized into Christ, right? That he be baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. And that means to be in union, identified with Christ. We have been buried with Him by baptism. When you believe, beloved, when you believed in Jesus Christ, you were baptized into Christ. You died with Him, you rose with Him, you live and His life lives through you. Baptism simply means identification. It is union. It is he that is joined to the Lord is what? One spirit. When you were saved, you were identified with Christ. We say that when people are baptized in this baptistery over here, they are saying in a public demonstration "I am identifying my life in union with Jesus Christ." Baptism is the symbol of that union. Baptism is the symbol of that identification...water baptism.
Now that is precisely what you have here. As Christians, we are baptized spiritually into Christ in a unique and beautiful identification. We are one with Him. Every other Christian is one with Him, so we are one with every other Christian, all right? He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Who is joined to the Lord? Every Christian. So we who are one with Him are one with everybody else who is one with Him. So we are all identified together in a corporate community under the headship of Christ. That's what baptism means. We're all a body. In baptism, the head is Christ. We are all identified with each other, Christ is the leader. That's precisely what he's saying here.
In the act of coming out of Egypt and in the act of together all...notice "all" is five times, "all" in verse 10, "all" in verse 2, "all" in verse 3, "all" in verse 4...I think it's twice in verse 1. So you have ALL of them coming out...ALL of them under the cloud...ALL of them through the sea. What does this mean? This means you have a corporate community. As they ALL together, they ALL identified with Moses. They ALL followed his headship. They ALL followed his leadership. They ALL identified with him. And that's precisely what he is saying. Entry into the church is by baptism of the spirit. Entry into the assembly of the wilderness was by ALL coming through the sea, ALL being under the cloud, accepting Moses as the leader, as the Christian accepts Christ as the head. They were in identification as a nation, as a community, as a fellowship, as a believing witnessing group under the headship of Moses. That's what it's saying.
So, they were all identified with Moses. One corporate witnessing community. And as baptism brings us under the leadership of Christ, so did participation in the great events of the exodus bring them under the leadership of Moses. Anybody who wanted to could have said, "Hey, Moses, I'm not going through that deal. I'm staying right here." And he would have cut himself off from that corporate community that was under the leadership of Moses. Now that's the first thing, God liberated them and then God identified them as a witnessing community. It's tantamount to the Christian being called by God to serve and united with the other believers who are the witnessing community in this age.
Now notice there's a third blessing area, verse 3, "And all did eat the same spiritual food." You say, "What is spiritual food?" That's the first question I asked. Spiritual food does not mean that it's sort of ethereal and you can't really see it. That's not talking about the essence of it, it's talking about, notice this, the source of it. Spiritual food is food that is coming from the Spirit of God. And when they were in the wilderness, who gave them their food? God did, by His Spirit God delivered their food. They were sustained by manna. It is called spiritual food not because its essence is spiritual, it was physical, but because its source was spiritual, the Spirit of God. So, they were all sustained. They were all given food and nourishment.
And that also is like the Corinthians and like Christians. We have received the sustenance. "My God shall supply all your needs." We are supplied by Him. "He that eats this bread shall never hunger. He that drinks this water, said Jesus, shall...what?...never thirst." We are sustained. So the parallel again is there. They all ate the same spiritual food, verse 4, and all drank the same spiritual drink...that is water that was provided from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it came out of a rock, sometimes there was a stream or a brook, sometimes there was a well, but in many ways, God provided.
Now the verbs in those two are imperfect verbs. That doesn't mean they're less than perfect. That means they do not know completion. The word "perfect" means completion. So they are without completion which means anything in the imperfect tense has successive continuity. They were continually being fed. There wasn't any completion. There wasn't any end to it. They were continually being given water by the Spirit. All through their wandering, all through their life, sustained by God.
So, you have a picture here of the believer who is called as a part of the corporate community, identified by baptism into that corporate community, and then sustained by God with all the resources necessary. Now that's the assets of liberty. A pretty good position to be in.
But there's more. Verse 4 has a very interesting phrase that is not easy to understand. "They all did drink the same spiritual drink," now this, he adds this footnote and it would have been a lot easier on a lot of folks if we had just left it out because it's difficult, but we'll do our best to show you what we think it means. "For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ."
Now there have been amazing explanations of this, but let's just get down to what really, I think, is the safest way to explain this. They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. In the first place, what just thrills me about that statement is that it proves the preexistence of Jesus Christ, right? Christ is following Israel through the wilderness. Second, the rock is Christ and the rock is God in the Old Testament which makes Christ equal to...to God. Tremendous statement.
But look what its meaning is. What are they saying? The rock that followed them? Do you know the Jews had an interesting legend, and I think that's where this comes from. It was a legend that was in existence still at the time of Paul. This is what they thought. The old Jewish legend said that originally in Exodus 17, I think it is, remember when God said I'm going to give you water out of the rock, Moses, take your rod and strike the rock? And he did and it just gushed out water and satisfied the thirst of...there must have been a million or better people. And so that rock, according to the old Jewish legend, took off from there and rolled behind Israel for the rest of the 40 years. Wherever they went, the rolling boulder was there, just following them along. And they'd stop and the rolling rock would be there and whatever speaking or hitting, gush out water. The old Jewish legend that the rolling rock accompanied them for 40 years, always yielding its water.
I think that Paul, in a sense, is giving a little allusion to that legend which was very popular. But he does something beautiful. He uses a different word. The word for a boulder or a rock that could roll along would be petras, a masculine form of the noun. But he doesn't use that word. And that I think is a play on the legend. He uses petrawhich means a massive cliff. And a massive cliff can't roll along behind the children of Israel. But what he says is this, you think that Israel's water according to the legend, some think that Israel's water was supplied by a rolling boulder, but I'll tell you, they were drinking from the spiritual rocky mass, the rocky cliff...and that which followed them was Christ. Listen, he says, you know what sustained Israel in the wilderness? It wasn't a rolling boulder, it was Christ. That's what he's saying. It was the Messiah.
You say, "You mean the Messiah was identified with His people even before His death?" Of course. They were His people then. The supernatural rock that never allowed Israel to perish, wasn't a rolling boulder, it was Christ Himself, accompanying His people through the wilderness. And here you see what Paul is saying is, "Look, they had what you have. They had the sustaining presence of the Messiah." People say, "Well, the Old Testament people didn't have the indwelling Spirit." You're right, they didn't, but they had the sustaining presence of the Messiah. In those days He was often called the angel of what? Of the Lord...the angel of Jehovah, but He was there. He was there sustaining His people. He was there caring for His people. He was there fulfilling His people's needs. Beautiful. Preexistent Christ was there.
And so he's saying to the Corinthians, you have it, too. You've been set free as a witnessing community. You've been identified in that community under the headship of Jesus Christ. You are all feeding on the same spiritual food in the same Spirit-given drink. And you are being sustained in it all by Christ. And they had those same privileges.
You say, "What's the point, Paul?" The point is verse 5, and it comes like a shock. "But with many of them, God was not well pleased and they were overthrown in the wilderness." You see it? What a shocker. All those resources, liberated, called as a witnessing community, sustained and guided, sustained by God's provision, guided by God's cloud. They all had it and even Christ Himself was giving them those benefits.
Do you notice verse 5, "with many of them?" The literal Greek is "most of them." With most of them, God was not well pleased. You say, "How many?" Listen to this, of the entire generation that left Egypt, do you know how many entered the promised land? Two...Joshua and Caleb, that's all. Most of them means most of them. Numbers 14:16 says, "Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore to give unto them, therefore He slain them in the wilderness." And that's...look at the word "overthrown," it means strewn, it means strewn all over everywhere. Their corpses were strewn all over the desert.
"But, John, what are you saying? That they lost their salvation?" That isn't the issue. Some of them were regenerated in personal faith and some of them were not, and there's no way. That isn't the point. The point of the illustration is God called them to be a witnessing community but because of sin, they were disqualified to establish that witnessing community, they were set aside and a whole new group went into that land of Canaan. And the point is this, they had everything. They had all of the privileges and they were smug and they were self- sufficient and they were self-confident and they griped their way through the wilderness and they abused their liberty. And we're going to see how they did that next week. And they did just about what they wanted to do in their liberty, always flirting on the thin edge and they fell into sin and God let them all go and they died in the wilderness. Some of those Israelites will be in heaven because they were really believers. But they were disqualified. You can be a believer and be disqualified from service.
Listen, even in the church, according to 2 Timothy 2, there are vessels unto honor and dishonor, right? If you purge yourself, you will be a vessel unto honor, fit for what? The Master's use. God has to depend upon a minority of Christians to do His ministry because so many of them fail to be qualified. How many people like Israel, how many Christians do you know of who start out in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and find themselves fall into temptation, they fall into sin and they are disqualified from serving Christ? Oh, they're going to go to heaven, going to be regenerated because they have been, but they're useless. And in fact, according to 1 John 5, some of them God just killed.
First Corinthians chapter 11, we're going to find out, you want to see something interesting? Look at verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 11, "For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep...many are dead." The Lord had to allow some of the Corinthians to be strewn in the desert. Some of the Corinthian corpses should have been living testimony to disqualification in the service of the Lord because of sin. And you know why they got disqualified? You know why some of those Corinthians failed? You know why some of those Corinthians died? Because they lived on the thin edge of their liberty, they ran their liberty right out to its extremity and they got into temptation they couldn't handle, fell into sin and were disqualified for service.
Look at verse 6, and I'll just introduce point 2 and we'll get into it next time. The abuses of liberty...verse 6, we saw the assets in the first five, the abuses begin in verse 6. And it says, "Now these things were our examples." Paul says I'm telling you the story to be a tupos. Tuposmeans a model, a type, a pattern. I want you to see an example here. And the example is this, "We should not lust after evil things as they lusted." There they were out there enjoying their liberty and it turned into lust. In Numbers chapter 11, it's really incredible, they were out there, God was supplying every single thing they needed. Then verse 4 it says, "They wept and they said, Who will give us flesh to eat?" We want meat. We're not vegetarians. We remember...they didn't like the manna. Manna, manna, manna, all we get. Verse 6, "Our soul is dried away, nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes."
I'm reminded when I was a little kid, I used to go to some friends house and they kid me even to this day that I always said the same thing cause this dear lady always gave me the same thing every time I'd go there for lunch. Oh, I stayed with them one whole summer, every day I got the same thing. And I was a little guy and I...every time I see them they always say the same thing, "Hello, John, remember when you used to say `Soup and sandmiches, soup and sandmiches, all we ever have here is soup and sandmiches."
Well, that's what they essentially were saying here. All we ever get is manna...manna, manna, manna. I mean, enough is enough. So verse 5, "We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers...." and their mouths were..."and the melons and the leeks and the onion and the garlic." And I've often thought with a diet of fish and cucumbers and leeks and onions and garlic, I'd like to keep my distance from that many people. And it says in verse 34, you know what happened? "And God killed those that lusted."
You know, it's so easy in the Christian life when you take your liberty to its extremity, to start looking back over the bank at what you used to have and starting to lust after the old life. That's what he's saying. You Corinthians who are running your liberty right out to its limits are going to face the old patterns and be drawn into those old patterns. And that's what happened to Israel. Let it be an example that when you take your liberties and run them out to their extremes on to that thin edge between what is your right to do and what is sin, you're going to get tempted to fall into old patterns of life..the thing that God redeemed you out of. Let that be a perpetual warning against indulgence of lust for the forbidden objects of the former life.
Listen to Psalm 78:27, "He rained flesh on them like dust and feather fowls like the sand of the sea." You know, they said, "We want...we want flesh, we want..." So you know what He did? He gave them so much flesh that He said, it came down like dust. They about drowned in it. And feathered fowls like the sand of the sea. I mean, they just got bombed out of heaven. And He let it fall everywhere. And so they ate and got fat and He gave them their desire. Listen to this, "While their food was in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest and smote down the chosen men of Israel. For all this, they sinned still and believed not in His wondrous works. Therefore their days that He consume in vanity and their years in trouble."
You see what they did? They wanted what they wanted so He gave them what they wanted and then He took the fattest of them and took their lives. Why? Because He had to purge that kind of thing out of the witnessing community. And that's just the reason some believers may die and go to be with the Lord. Same thing. Because they're more of a problem in the witnessing community than they are an asset. The abuse of liberty leads to a disqualification for ministry and can lead to death.
What is this saying to us? Just this, beware of overconfidence. Let's pray.
Father, we know that as we see ourselves, we've been delivered, freed, called as a corporate testimony, blessed, sustained by the provision of God, kept by Christ and yet how easily could we become disqualified by the abuse of our freedoms. Teach us self-control. Teach us self-discipline. Teach us to be willing to set aside what might be our right for the sake of another to win him and for the sake of our ownselves that we would not be put in a place of temptation. Thank You for speaking this morning to us in Christ's name. Amen.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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How many times have you heard the phrase, "This is the opportunity of a lifetime"? Enough to stop paying attention to the claim, I'm sure. Well, this is such an opportunity--if you happen to be an avid music fan with a dream to turn your hobby into a full-time job. The Alibi is looking to send one lucky, talented and enthusiastic future music reporter to the SXSW Music and Media Conference (www.sxsw.com) in Austin, Texas, March 15 through 19. This five-day music festival will host performances by over 1,000 international bands in every genre imaginable, as well as discussions and forums with some key players in the music industry.
The Alibi will shower you with a press pass to SXSW and round-trip airfare. (You'll have to find and pay for your own lodging in Austin, though.) In exchange for the loot, you'll be required to write an article for publication in the Alibi detailing your experience. Pitch us your witty, insightful and coherent story idea in a 500-word essay, due by Friday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. We'll read all the submissions and announce the winner on the Alibi editorial blog at www.alibi.com on March 1 (to give you a chance to take a week off work and book a hotel). You must be at least 21 years of age to enter. Writing experience and a digital camera are a plus. Mail your submissions to SXSW Rock 'n' Report c/o the Alibi, 2118 Central SE, PMB 151, Albuquerque, N.M., 87106 or e-mail email@example.com. I'm shedding tears right now I'm so excited. Tears. You'll be crying, too, if you pass this one up. Seriously—just write the essay. You're only 500 words away from a kick-ass trip to music Mecca. Don't forget to pack the caffeine pills!


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Careers at Sony
Believe anything you can imagine, you can make real.
Every single one of us has an imagination-that unique ability to visualize. To create. To innovate. But when was the last time you put it to work for you? If you'd like to do it more, you've come to the right place—and the right company.
A company driven by imagination. Imagine that.
For over 65 years, imagination has been the fuel of everything we do. It's been the springboard for our ideas, the inspiration behind our products and the reason why so much of what we've done has changed things.
From how people listen to music, to how they play games, to how they watch TV, our big imaginations have led us to more "firsts" than just about anyone else.
Calling all dreamers.
Here's a rare thing: the chance to really connect with your creativity. But it takes bright minds. And brave hearts. The time is now.
Ready? We are.
The name 'Sony' derives from the Latin 'Sonus', where the terms 'Sonic' and 'Sound' also come from.
Let's go.
It's great to read. It's even better to be informed. But we only move forward in life if we act. So act now. Find your place at Sony.


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Date and starting time:
Mon 01/04/2013, 00:00
Back for it's fifth year, the Santini Cotswold Spring Classic is a must ride season opener for many. And for 2013 we've added a third (50km) route to encourage people out onto their bikes to kick start the season.
With a well signed route, well stocked feed stations, mechanical support, electronic timing and free hot food for all finishers the event offers everything you would expect (and more) from a sportive.


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Zeiss Announces New Website-Based Ballistic Calculator
"With this newly updated ballistic system and the cutting edge technology of our ballistic reticles the user experience will be phenomenal" stated Mike Jensen, President of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics. "We are constantly striving to provide truly innovative technology that will compliment every skill set for our passionate customers."
The new ZEISS Ballistic Calculator allows users to pick their exact ZEISS Riflescope with ballistic reticle from a drop-down menu. The user also has the ability to select factory or hand load data as well as environmental variables, and then the system will calculate and display theoptimum magnification setting. The result is that distant yardages now coincide with the ZEISSballistic reticle subtensions. The system allows the user to adjust standard settings for altitude, temperature, and incline angle as well as advanced settings for muzzle velocity, sight height above bore and sight-in distance. A new convenient print/save option for field reference is also available.
"The entire ballistic reticle marketplace is generally complex and confusing to most shooters." stated Mike Jensen. "We have intentionally spent hundreds of man hours simplifying our system, making it more user friendly and self-explanatory. It's the most accurate and simplistic system in the industry designed by hunters for hunters and we are proud that it works exclusively with our RAPID-Z and RZ reticles."
Key Features:
– One page screen application for fast data entry and easy to read results
– Comprehensive and current database for factory and hand loaded ammunition
– Adjustable settings to customize unique shooting environments
– New slide feature to visualize how change in magnification settings affect point of impact
Check out the new ZEISS Ballistic Calculator at www.zeiss.com/sports.


text:
Hey everyone,
I was wondering if there are any ant farmers in British Columbia, Canada? I know there is one forum member from bc but is there anyone else?
Ant farmers in BC, Canada
A listing of ant meet ups, events, and clubs around the world. Go on an ant trek with ant enthusiasts from your city. Connect with each other and foster an ant community where you live!
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Re: Ant farmers in BC, Canada
I'm a BC GAN farmer. South east corner. Mainly Camponotus colonies.
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Re: Ant farmers in BC, Canada
I also live in BC, currently living in Victoria
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By MANSUR MIROVALEV, Associated Press
REUTOV, Russia (AP) — Nikolai Leonov was walking through this Moscow suburb with his 2-year-old daughter when the toddler bent down and picked up a bloodied syringe from the grass. "I snatched it away from her a second before she could hurt herself," Leonov said, still shaken days later.
The computer hardware shop owner is one of millions of Russians horrified by a drug abuse epidemic that has turned Russia into the world's largest consumer of heroin.
An Associated Press-GfK poll released this month shows that nearly nine in 10 Russians (87 percent) identify drug abuse as at least a "very serious" problem in Russia today, including 55 percent describing the problem as "extremely serious." The only other issue that worries as many Russians (85 percent) is the corruption that pervades Russian society, business and politics.
Russians living across the vast country, of all levels of education and income, differ little when it comes to the extent of the drug abuse problem, although 91 percent of urban dwellers see it as a serious problem, compared to 82 percent of rural residents. Unprompted, 10 percent of Russians cite criminality, alcohol or drug abuse as the most important problem facing the country today, on par with the share citing basic needs such as medical care, housing and education.
Some 2.5 million Russians are addicted to drugs, and 90 percent of them use the heroin that has flooded into Russia from Afghanistan since the late 1990s, according to government statistics. The nation with a population of 143 million consumes 70 tons of Afghan heroin every year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Heroin kills 80 Russians each day — or 30,000 a year — and is "as easy to buy as a Snickers" chocolate bar, Russia's anti-drug czar Viktor Ivanov said. Meanwhile, new drugs — such as highly addictive synthetic marijuana and a cheap and lethal concoction made of codeine pills known as "crocodile" — compete with heroin and kill thousands more.
Drug addicts are also the people Russians would least like to have as neighbors, according to the AP-GfK poll. They are seen as more undesirable than alcoholics by a margin of 87 to 77 percent.
The AP-GfK poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications from May 25 to June 10 and was based on in-person interviews with 1,675 randomly selected adults nationwide. The results have a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
Leonov lives with his accountant wife and two children in a recently renovated one-bedroom apartment in Reutov, a suburb of Moscow known for its Soviet-era research institutes and defense factories. A statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin still stands on the town square. Their biggest problem is the addicts who live in the neighborhood.
Last year, he saw the body of an addict who apparently had overdosed right next to the playground where his children play. "He was there for a couple of hours before the cops showed up," Leonov said, pointing at a wooden bench where a bespectacled elderly woman was sitting.
Leonov claimed that the heroin that killed the addict was sold by a neighbor, who was always dirty and dressed in rags but flaunted a collection of new cell phones. His customers, mostly skinny and chain-smoking youngsters, would leave used syringes on the asphalt and occupy the benches for hours after getting their fix. The neighbor was arrested this spring, but Leonov said little has changed because the addicts apparently found another source of heroin nearby.
The heroin epidemic caught Russia by surprise.
Before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of drug addicts who used intravenous injections was extremely low. But the rise of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan opened a floodgate of cheap heroin, which flowed into Russia through the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
The arrival of NATO troops in Afghanistan only aggravated the situation, because coalition troops were instructed not to eradicate poppy crops for fear of driving the farmers into the ranks of the Taliban.
Moscow for years has been urging the U.S. military in Afghanistan to take stronger action against local drug labs and smugglers, but the production of Afghan opium since NATO's arrival has increased 40-fold, according to anti-drug czar Ivanov.
Most of Russia's 2.5 million drug addicts are aged 18 to 39 — a generation of Russians lost to heroin.
"The only thing the government can do is save the new generation, because we cannot be saved," said Valery, a former heroin addict from the Volga River city of Samara. He gave only his first name because his support group does not allow contacts with the media.
After a meeting with a dozen other recovering drug addicts, he recalled childhood friends who had overdosed, gone to jail or been infected with HIV after sharing contaminated needles. He remembered sharing a needle with a man who he knew had been in jail and thus had a high chance of being infected with HIV.
"I needed a fix that badly," said Valery, now a barrel-chested body builder. "Only God saved me" from getting infected, he said.
Infection is a major concern for Leonov's family. In the past decade, the number of HIV infections in Russia has tripled in one of the world's fastest-growing epidemics of the virus that causes AIDS, according to the United Nations. An estimated four fifths of the 980,000 Russians officially registered as HIV positive became infected through dirty needles.
When Leonov's wife, Yelena, was in a maternity hospital to give birth to their daughter, Nastya, she saw another pregnant woman injecting heroin brought in by her husband. Doctors at the hospital told her they would not isolate the woman because she might die or lose her child if she went through withdrawal, she said.
On the Net: www.ap-gfkpoll.com
How the AP-GfK poll was conducted
The Associated Press-GfK Poll in Russia, on views of drug abuse, was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications from May 25-June 10. It is based on a national random sample of 1,675 Russians age 18 and older from different interviewing locations.
One hundred cities and districts were initially selected, with probability proportionate to size. Next 200 urban and rural blocks were randomly selected from the 100.
Excluded from the block selection were remote and low-populated areas, including some high-mountain terrain, and clusters of minority and ethnic groups whose command of Russian was limited. The lack of official statistics makes it difficult to estimate the amount of non-coverage, but it is probably somewhere between 3 and 6 percent.
In the blocks, interviewers were assigned random routes with rules to randomly select a household for the interview. Interviewers then recorded the number of adults in the household and randomly selected an adult for the interview. Interviewers revisited the home if the selected adult was not present.
Interviews were conducted in Russian.
As done routinely in surveys, results were weighted, or adjusted, to ensure that responses accurately reflect the population's makeup. The sample was weighted to take into account the sampling method, as well as for age and sex.
No more than one time in 20 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than plus or minus 2.9 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all adults in Russia were polled.
There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions.
Topline results are available at http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com and http://surveys.ap.org.
The questions and results are available at http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com .


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24 May 2010
Dr Andrea Ferrari to receive Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.
17 May 2010
A research consortium could usher in a new generation of "iconic" products for people who have difficulty using everyday items.
10 May 2010
Inspire Scholar and civil engineering student Christopher Matthews collected a national prize, worth £1,500 from ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry.
05 May 2010
How tiny is 'Tiny'? Well it's nano, and nano is everywhere.
28 Apr 2010
Students from the Centre for Sustainable Development visited the Olympic Site to see how large infrastructure projects are developed
19 Apr 2010
Adam Booth, a recent engineering graduate, has created a computer model of the Department.
12 Apr 2010
A hundred children, aged 11-13, from Suffolk middle schools have spent a day at Cambridge University learning about the science of flight.
29 Mar 2010
CamSemi a spinout company from the Department of Engineering has picked up another major industry award.
22 Mar 2010
The Engineer magazine Technology and Innovation Awards returned to The Royal Society to celebrate the 2009 most successful UK engineering projects.
15 Mar 2010
Dr Priti Parikh completed her MPhil at the Centre for Sustainable Development here at the Department of Engineering from 2004-2005.


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"The Artist and the Model," Fernando Trueba's follow-up to the Oscar-nommed animation feature "Chico & Rita," continues to roll out foreign sales, having closed Germany and Austria with Camino and Brazil with Europe Filmes.
Largely in French, the drama is sold by Spain's 6 Sales.
Cohen Media Group announced at Toronto it had acquired North American rights and will campaign for a Golden Globe nom; Bac Films has closed France.
"Model" stars France's Jean Rochefort as an aging, world-weary sculptor in 1943 war-ravaged France who suddenly discovers a reason to live when he meets a beautiful young escapee from a Spanish internment camp (Aida Folch), who agrees to pose as his model.
Written with Luis Bunuel co-scribe Jean-Claude Carriere and shot in black-and-white, "Model" won Trueba — whose "Belle Epoque" took an Academy Award — the best director nod at September's San Sebastian Festival.


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The First-Year Program (FYP) and First-Year Seminar (FYS) are the first steps in a four-year process of helping you meet the University's Aims and Objectives and the broader goals of a liberal education. The faculty of the FYP and FYS see themselves as partners and mentors in the process of working with you to acquire the intellectual habits of mind, the writing, speaking, and research skills, and the ethical self-reflection that are at the core of a liberal education. The FYP and FYS will ask you to consider new perspectives on the world and your place in it and will challenge you to confront many of the hidden assumptions you bring to college with you. We hope to open you to new ideas, help you to see the complexity of the way in which knowledge gets produced and used in society, and encourage you to see yourself as an active contributor in making the world a better place. The course topics, the texts you will read, listen to, and watch, the in-class and out-of-class activities you will engage in, and the writing, speaking, and research assignments you will work on are all designed to introduce you to the depth of critical thinking and the quality and complexity of the communication skills that will be expected of you at SLU and as a citizen of an increasingly diverse society.
First and foremost among our goals are those related to your abilities as a communicator. The work of the FYP and FYS asks you to design and deliver written, spoken, performed and/or visual texts that demonstrate basic skills in the relevant modes of communication and with an increasing degree of rhetorical sensitivity. Our focus on "rhetorical sensitivity" means that we expect you to cultivate the awareness that all of your communication, whether formal or informal, involves having to make choices about your messages, whether written, spoken, aural or visual. To become a good communicator, you need to recognize that the creation of meaningful and powerful written, spoken, performed, or visual texts involves both a creator and an audience, and that therefore the voice you adopt in your communication, the audience you imagine yourself communicating to, and the social and ethical context of the content, matter a great deal in creating such texts. One important way to become a better communicator is to become a better critical reader, viewer, and listener, which is why we will ask you to engage challenging materials in a variety of forms and work with you to learn how to interpret them.
Learning to read, listen, write, speak, do research and/or perform well also requires feedback. As faculty, we submit our work for feedback from colleagues all the time, and giving and receiving constructive feedback from both friends and strangers is central to collaborative work in any field and is itself a form of critical thinking and learning. We further recognize that this feedback process is not linear and that good communication requires that you continually rethink, restructure, and revise your work in order for it to be your best. This is why we require that your writing, speaking, and performance assignments be "projects" that include preparatory exercises and multiple drafts or rehearsals, all of which ask you to continue to reflect critically on the choices you have made in the texts that you produce. Furthermore, we see all of these forms of communication as complementary and intertwined, which is why many of your assignments will ask you to integrate elements of the written, spoken, performed, and visual. Finally, developing good habits of critical inquiry and communication also means reflecting on the ethical dimensions of how your work represents that of others, thus one of our goals is to help you to understand both the nature of academic integrity and the social processes by which knowledge is produced and represented.
To ensure that the program is meeting its stated goals, all FYP and FYS syllabi are read by other faculty in the program to determine if they include a variety of assignments that foster the writing, speaking, research, and critical thinking goals of the program. All FYP and FYS courses have to be approved by faculty in the program before they are offered.


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What is group therapy?
Group therapy is a form of treatment that allows participants to learn about themselves and their relationships with others and address personal difficulties that are often shared by some other members of the group. A significant benefit of group therapy includes not feeling so alone with your concerns since others in the group will likely have experienced similar things. Also, the interactions members have with each other in the group will parallel interactions they have with people outside of the group. This allows members to learn about their reactions and practice taking risks with new strategies for interacting with others in the safe environment of the group. These insights and new ways of interacting can then be transferred to relationships outside of the group with the aim of improving them.
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How does group therapy work?
In group therapy, 8-10 members meet with two trained group leaders for 1 ½ hours each week. Members are asked to commit to attending group for a minimum of 8 sessions. This is to allow the time to establish trusting relationships and to develop them to the point of working through issues that might emerge such as difficulty being assertive, being vulnerable, or sharing deep feelings. Learning in the group occurs through participation. However, members can also learn about themselves by listening and observing the interactions of others. No one is forced to discuss issues they are not ready to discuss.
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Is there a structured format in group therapy?
There is no agenda. It is up to group members to determine what they want to work on each week. Often there is continuity from week to week related to the topics raised. The co-leaders work with the group to facilitate meaningful interaction and attend to identified problems or areas of dissatisfaction in the member's lives. Also, co-leaders and members too, over time, begin to address issues, feelings and dynamics that come up among members in the group in the here and now. This is a very powerful means of learning about you and about changing patterns of behavior that are not working.
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Can I be in individual and group counseling at the same time?
Group therapy is often the ideal form of therapy for college students since a primary focus of group is on relationships and understanding and managing feelings. These are common issues for students. Group therapy alone can be a sufficient means of dealing with these issues. At the Counseling Center individual therapy is rarely recommended at the same time as group therapy because there is a risk of confusion and not fully committing to the therapeutic work in the group.
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What are the expectations regarding my participation in group therapy?
There are a number of rules or expectations that leaders ask members to commit to prior to joining a therapy group. This is to ensure the group's safety and effectiveness in addressing the concerns of all of the members.
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text: To get from Salerno a Casarano by train you can catch one of the 12 trains that everyday travel between Salerno and Lecce, the closest station to the city. For your trip from Salerno to Lecce by train you can choose to leave from one of Salerno main stations: Salerno If travelling with Trenitalia, you need to know the Salerno to Lecce train schedule: the first train leaves at 07:45, while the last ride is at 17:47. A Salerno to Lecce train cost about 19.85 €. But how long is the train ride from Salerno to Lecce? Your journey takes about 7 hours on average. Thanks to Trenitalia, offers, you can save on your trip from Salerno to Lecce and find low cost tickets starting from 20 €!


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California's budget deficit is gone.
That was the key aspect as Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his proposed budget for 2013-2014 at a press conference in Sacramento on Thursday.
"This is new," he said.
Brown predicted a $851-million surplus by the end of the year, thanks to brutal cuts and the passage of Proposition 30 increasing sales tax and the income tax on those making more than $250,000 a year.
"We achieved this because of tough budget cuts, and then people voted for the tax increase," he said at the press briefing. "We broke the logjam by going to the people."
The proposed document, released on the state Department of Finance's website Thursday, predicts $98.5 billion in general fund revenue proposes spending $97.5 billion. This includes a $1 billion reserve.
State Senator Jean Fuller's office released a statement late Thursday offering cautious optimism about the budget.
"The Governor embraced a balanced budget proposal today," Fuller stated. "That echoes the message many of us have repeatedly made over the years, especially when the state faced massive deficits."
However, she urged caution regarding the budget, citing some aspects of the budget were still imbalanced.
"The budget still consists of unsustainable spending for services. And we still haven't seen promised reforms to regulations, like CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), that hinder the state's economic growth."
Brown's budget contradicts a Legislative Analyst Office report released in November citing that the state faced $1.9 billion deficit despite the tax measure passage and other modifications.
Education will see the largest gains in Brown's proposal.
After years of taking hits, California's K-12 and community colleges will jump $2.7 billion to $56.2 billion.
Both the University of California and California State University systems will each receive a $250 million bump over last year, but Brown has placed strings on it.
Brown's plan demands both university systems to cap student course loads at 150 percent of what a student needs to graduate (270 units for a UC student and 180 for a CSU undergrad) in the first two years.
In later years, Brown has called for cap at no more than an additional year's course load for each student, or 220 units for UC students and 150 units for CSU students.
Brown is also seeking to chart a course for healthcare reform in the face of the federal healthcare expansions under the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010. Medicaid is offered in California as Medi-Cal.
Included in his budget are two paths, one for a leaner spending plan that would no longer provide long-term care for newly eligible people. The other option means passing the buck to the counties by leaving them responsible to determine what benefits can be offered.
Brown pointed out the state is in better shape than other states in terms of health care.
"California is way out in front," Brown said. "But we have to live within our means."
Brown estimated $350 million in increased health care costs due to the AHA expansions, a placeholder for now until the estimate is refined. He highlighted in his budget that Medicaid enrollment will increase, in general because the new guidelines will supposedly make it easier for people to enroll.
Brown's budget is not a rosy picture for all systems, however. The state's court system faces sharp cuts in addition to reductions.
Trial courts face a $200 million reduction in the governor's proposal, with the money transferred to court services. The state's entire court system overall is set to receive $3.1 billion in Brown's budget plan, but recent years have seen cumulative cuts totalling $1.2 billion.
Brown's budget also cautioned that the state faces a series of unfunded liabilities in the coming years, topped by the burgeoning pension systems spread across the state's three retirement funds.
"The boom and bust in our state's budget over the last decade is something we should not repeat," Brown wrote in his budget summary.
Brown cautioned that any tax relief generated by Prop 30 was only temporary, as the sales tax increases expires in 2016.
State Assembly Speaker John Perez, of Los Angeles, praised the bill in a statement released Thursday.
"This is a proposal that clearly shows California has turned the corner," Perez stated. "The Governor's budget is sober, restrained and forward thinking, and I believe it's a solid foundation for the budget process. I am looking forward to thorough and insightful public hearings as we work with the Governor to adopt the final budget by our Constitutional deadline."
Assemblywoman Shannon Grove's office declined to comment until it had done an analysis of the budget.